I like HM's hat. It give her attire some color. Sophie looks fabulous (and love her hair up). Princess Anne's outfit is OK, but yes, hats off to her for being able to stay in such great shape for the past thirty years. Would love to know her secret.

__________________

__________________"My guiding principles in life are to be honest, genuine, thoughtful and caring".
~Prince William~

LOVED Sophie's hat with the peacock feathers! She has really been having some great fashion event days... good for her! And I LOVED HM's ice cream hat. In fact, now I have a taste for vanilla ice cream with sprinkles..

I am jealous of your ability to enter the Royal Enclosure! I hope you have a lovely time all week. Thanks for your thoughts on the day. :)

Just back from Day 2 at Royal Ascot and 'checking in' to try to answer your queries.

Molly2101: Thank you for your good wishes and yes, I am very, very lucky.

I can only pass on Royal Enclosure rumours so please treat them as speculation: Catherine and William were thought to be attending tomorrow, Thursday, Gold Cup day but some other people think that she might be at Royal Ascot instead on Saturday - William apparently has to work tomorrow but has a 'rest day' this weekend and the Saturday would also fit in with Catherine's parents, who are members of a 20-strong syndicate and have a horse running. This could lead to the appearance of Catherine and William in the Second Carriage and pehaps the Middletons behind them. These are only rumours though so please treat them accordingly.

One thing I will say is that nowadays Security is so tight at Royal Ascot that they don't announce who is in the procession until the carriages appear. In the past, Yeoman Prickers uses to hand out typewritten lists before the Queen's arrival.

I did not see Prince Charles or Camilla - I presume they were not there - I checked the Paddock for them, ditto the Royal Box. The clearest sign that they were not expected was the fact that the Duke of Edinburgh presented the Prince of Wales trophy. For years it has been rumoured that Prince Charles dislikes racing - in the past, [when he used to play polo] he often used to slip off to Smith's Lawn after the first couple of races. Incidentally, the Duke is rumoured to dislike racing and apparently has the tv nearest to him in the royal box switched to the Cricket.

The Princess Royal is often accompanied to the races by Andrew Parker-Bowles: Tim Laurence is usually present somewhere, but seems as bored by it as Prince Phillip and Charles are [naval thing, I wonder?] Since Andrew Parke- Bowles' wife died, I have noticed that Princess Anne makes a special effort to be with him. I do not think it is indicative of anything amiss in her marriage: I think it is just a caring attitude to make sure that APB is not 'left out as a spare man'. The Princess often forgoes royal lunches during Ascot week so that she can join friends for a picnic in the car park. [Picnics in the Car Park is very much the in-thing at Royal Ascot.

Anne's friends Sir Jackie and Lady Stewart [ex racing driver and his wife] were at Royal Ascot today and presented one of the trophies. {it has now become fashionable for Ascot to have celebrity trophy-presenters}

Anne's wardrobe: yes, she often wears clothes time and time again - I saw her a couple of years ago wearing a ball gown she last wore [publically, at any rate] in........1976!! apprently she is very proud that she can still fit into her old clothes. [Justifably so!!]

The Queen appeared in the Paddock for the last race [she usually only comes to the Paddock for the 'Feature [main] Race' each day unless there is a spectacular horse racing whom she wishes to inspect at close quarters or she has a runner herself. By the time she appeared [Sixth race is at 5.35pm] the heavens had opened and it was raining and so the Queen appeared with her clear umbrella. {a trick she originally learnt from the Queen Mother]. Alas, there was some problem I think with her horse because after it left the paddock and went to the start, the jockey dismounted before the race and then when the stalls opened, it just did not look happy despite being the favourite. The queen was apparently only marginally disappointed, because she is just thrilled to have a runner at Royal Ascot.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent often appear at Ladies Day tomorrow.

None of these work for me, says page can not be found- so put me in the group of people who can't open Isopix which I used to be able to do

Well, don't need to say that I'm in this group...I'm boring people to death asking for help with Isopix! Couldn't see any of the photos. I've tried the homepage, refreshing, everything. Just got an empty page with "Sorry. User or IP denied", again and again...
At least I'm not alone

Knows his "place"? He is usually much farther than a couple of paces behind her. He is rarely even shown in the same picture with her, or even very close by.

Sorry, my guess is this is a "hands off" subject.

I recall rumors that the marriage was in trouble a few years ago, but that a second divorce for Anne was out of the question.
Maybe they are like the Kents, and have decided to live separately, more or less.